UConn women still No. 1; Gonzaga men take top spot in college basketball poll

The Associated Press

Published 5:12 pm, Monday, January 30, 2017

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UConn head coach Geno Auriemma.

UConn head coach Geno Auriemma.

Photo: The Associated Press File Photo

UConn women still No. 1; Gonzaga men take top spot in college basketball poll

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UConn still sits at No. 1 in The Associated Press women’s basketball poll Monday after cruising to two more easy victories.

The Huskies (20-0) have won an NCAA record 95 consecutive games and visit Temple on Wednesday before hosting Tulsa on Sunday.

Following UConn is Baylor, Maryland, South Carolina and Mississippi State. The Gamecocks switched places with the Bulldogs after beating them by three points last Monday. South Carolina hosts Tennessee on Monday night.

Florida State, Notre Dame, Stanford, Louisville and Washington round out the first 10 teams in the Top 25.

Arizona State had the biggest fall, dropping seven places after getting swept in Los Angeles by No. 13 UCLA and USC. DePaul made the biggest gain, rising four places to 17th.

Syracuse and Kentucky re-entered the poll this week at Nos. 24 and 25 while Kansas State and Virginia Tech dropped out.

Gonzaga men No. 1

Gonzaga, the last unbeaten team in Division I, moved to No. 1 in The Associated Press college basketball poll for the second time in school history.

The Zags (22-0) jumped up from third when Villanova and Kansas both were beaten in a week when seven of the top 10 lost.

Gonzaga received 46 first-place votes from the 65-member national media panel. The Zags were No. 1 for the last three weeks of the 2012-13 season.

Gonzaga is the fifth team to reach No. 1 this season joining Duke, Kentucky, Villanova and Baylor.

Baylor (20-1), one of the three top 10 teams to not lose, jumped from fifth to second. The Bears had six first-place votes and were one point ahead of Kansas (19-2), which dropped one place after losing at West Virginia before winning at Kentucky. The Jayhawks had nine first-place votes.

Villanova, which had been No. 1 for the last two weeks and six overall, dropped to fourth after losing at Marquette. The Wildcats (20-2), who also had a last-second win over Virginia, were No. 1 on four ballots.

Northwestern (18-4) is the week’s lone newcomer. The Wildcats were last ranked for one week in 2009-10.

Arizona, the other top 10 team to get through the week without a loss, moved from seventh to fifth and was followed by Louisville, West Virginia, Kentucky, Virginia and Wisconsin.

UCLA was 11th and was followed by North Carolina, Oregon, Cincinnati, Florida State, Butler, Maryland, Saint Mary’s, South Carolina and Notre Dame.

The last five ranked teams were Duke, Creighton, Purdue, Florida and Northwestern.

Xavier (15-6), which has lost four of six with all the losses to ranked teams, dropped out from 24th. The Musketeers, who had been ranked for the last 29 polls, were seventh in the preseason voting.

West Virginia, which beat Kansas and Texas A&M, had the week’s biggest jump from 18th to No. 7. Louisville, which beat Pittsburgh and North Carolina State by an average of 40 points, moved from 13th to No. 6.

Florida State’s fall from sixth to No. 15 followed the Seminoles’ losses to Georgia Tech and Syracuse. Kentucky also lost twice last week — to Tennessee and Kansas — and the Wildcats dropped from fourth to eighth.